The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-08-05
have it put where the road really wanted it.
The president of the road took their money
after much urging, saying he would lose
money by it, but he would to oblige them.n

money by It, but ne would to oblIge them"
*** 5#r-
''One of the biggest depot schemes" the
Wichita man went on, WAS played by a set
of property owners upon few real estate
spectators. In these days speculators are
closely watched here, and the new capitalist
who comes in may be gold mine to the
town. One day last winter grave looking.
substantial, plug hated stranger arrived
here. He looked like millionaire and he
had the aspects of a good business man. He
spent several days in going about the town
and priced various properties, talking of the
prospects of Wichita and its growth. Atlast,
when curiosity had become great among the
real estate men, he confided to several of them
that he was connected with the Pennsylvania
Central Railroad company and that that COM
pany proposed to extend its western terminus
from Chicago to Wichita and he thought they
would build big depot here. This he tol
them in strict confidence and they jumped at
the scheme. They looked upon him as one OF
the grand moguls of the road and offered him
$25, 600 cash to tell them where he was going
to locate the depot He took it and fixed the
place on Main street near Orme The
land was low, and was apparently q bad
place for o depot. However, the real
estate men were too big with their scheme to
consider this, and they at once began TO buy
the property surrounding this point Strange
to them, the prices asked were rather high
and the owners of the property wanted more
than had ever been asked before They
bought, nevertheless, and paid cash. Some
of them were connected with the Wichita
and Western railway, whose track came in
near the proposed spot. After they had
bought several blocks it leaked out that the
whole matter was put up job, that the
clever plug hated Pennsylvania railroad
man had been paid to play his part and
that he had gotten a greater amount
from the property holders for doing it
than from the real estate men. He
has not been seen in Wichita since
he got his last $25, 900, and the cal estate
men still hold their surprisingly high priced
depot property. The outlines of the fraud
wcro published i'll the papers here, but the
mon taken in begged the reporters to keep it
qui t." *#*
"Has there been anything of this kind in
business propertv?"
"Yes. The Fourth avenue business scheme
took in n horde of real estate agents. 1t was
operated by several of the property holders,
and aided by the newspapers in part. Fourth
avenue is a side street, half mile off from
Main. 1t lies parallel with the railway track,
and the scheme in part was 10 make it a
wholesale street, with the backs of the stores
facing the track. 1t cuts Douglass street
which is the other business street One,
Wel""s1ny morning in last F,t,s- '-s
on this streeG were worth from 81 40 TO
5000 apiece. They were not very desirable
for residence, and no one thought OF them
being good business lots, except at the juno
tion with Douglass One Thursday morning
it was announced that the Wichita and South
western Hardware company had been organ
ized with {. capital of $250,00O and that
charter had been taken out for the same. The
building was to be erected ON this avenue
and work was to begin at once. 1t was also
announced that the new Matthewson Acad-
envy of Music was to be located here, and a
number of the property owners along the
street, specified by name, stated that they in
tended to erect three and five story buildings
for wholesale houses, and the paper ventured
the prediction that this might mean the begin
ming of the great wholesale street of the town.
The day that this WAS published Fourth
avenue swarmed with real estate agents and
property jumped from the former figures to
as high as $1,000 per lot of 25x150 feet. BY
10 a. m. there were not enough hitching posts
to tie the horses OF the real estate buyers
papers, made the matter worse, and the craze
lasted till Sunday, when the people got time
to think and the prices began to fall In the
meantime the older residents had sold out,
and the property was almost all in the hands
of new purchasers. Now the great hardware
store has failed to materialize, the Academy
of Music finds defect in the title to the land
it was about to buy, and Fourth avenue is
destined to remain as it was before, a second.
class residence street"
-.
Another way III v ii W iclita las in-
creased its available building space has been
by its colleges, and these schemes are also
founded upon real estate speculation
When the town was mad the lead
ing churches of Wichita advertised that they
were going to establish great colleges in
the new city and asked bids in land and
money for the location of the site. The
property holders responded literally, and big
buildings are either projected Or are going up
in a half dozen different parts of the country
surrounding. Or course the property about |
these colleges has become desirable residence
property and the colleges have gotten nice
endowment fund from the sale of the lots
which they have laid out. The farmers who |
gave the land have made fortunes from tie
increase in the value of the property they had
left, and it is all great scheme which seems to
make everybody richer and to hnrt no one. q
The first of these colleges was Garfield uni
versity, founded by the Christian church. 1t |
has Il big brick building half up and has re-
ceived. understand, an additional endow- i
ment of 100000 from the church outside of |
Wichita 1t was given here about 300 acres
of land 1t reserved some for itself and |
plotted the rest. It has sold over $500 900 |
worth of lots and has yet three-ffths of its
land left The German Reformed church was
i'll this same way given 100000 worth of |
land The Baptist church got $3.50, 600 worth |
of land for the location of the Jddson uni I
versity and they have already begun to build. |
The Presbyterians got $500, 900 worth of land |
for university which they propose to build |
east of the city, and the Quakers received I
sl50, 600 worth for the John Bright university /
in the western part of the town. Then there I
is an institution being built which is, it is |
hoped, to be the Vassar of the west. and all |
told this new town has enough educational T
waste land cut to educate all the west. All T
of these institutions have sold lots and all /
have acquired nice endowments in money /
from their sale. a8 nfia Rs s9
These are great schemes, aren't theya
But this is great country and Wichita IL
q booming townl FRANK q. CARPENTER.
She Was just Previous Enough.
| ! ~ g "